Torchwood: Equestria- Parallel Loose Ends
by Coheed275
Summary: Equestria is not only facing threats from outer regions, but now from creatures beyond their world. But are aliens the only threat the world faces? Or are greater phenomenons about to appear? Either way, a small, secret team of ponies is ready for anything. And they're called Torchwood. Join Jack, Wing, and other familiar faces in this sequel to Dr. Whooves- Parallel Complications.
1. Chapter 1

**Torchwood Equestria: Parallel Loose Ends**

**Chapter 1- The Right Stallion**

**(PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE: **The following story is a sequel to my previous fic, "Dr. Whooves- Parallel Complications". I would strongly suggest reading that fic first for the sake of things in this fic making sense. You can find the fic on my page here. If you are caught up on my stories and would like to get a chapter ahead, search for Coheed275 on fimfiction.)

The light grey clouds and sprinkling rain failed to lower Ensign Wing's cheery mood. He'd made it. The royal guard. Now he walked through the bustling streets of Canterlot as an officer, one among the best of the best who were selected to protect the royal princesses and their castle. He pushed through the vigorous training and the first few months of having to work every day of the week with long hours, but now that he was an official ensign, they gifted him with a normal schedule and days off, something he'd taken for granted in the past. And for the first time since he signed up, Wing had a whole day to spend with his best friend from childhood, whose mood also stayed strong through the rain drops falling onto her silky, red mane.

"Wing!" Crescent shouted with delight upon seeing her friend. She ran up to him, and Wing smiled wide, pulling Crescent into a hug. "Look at you…" she said, pulling back to glance over Wing's changed stature. "You look twice as strong as you used to!"

"Thanks." Wing blushed. "You look great too. It's so good to see you!"

"Let's order breakfast to go and get out of this stupid rain," Crescent replied. "I got a great hotel room, we can go there and chat."

They strolled through the streets of Canterlot, their hooves making gentle splashes in puddles formed from the rain that gently fell. It was summer, and though the warm sun did not show itself behind the clouds, still nopony felt a chill or the need of a jacket, though some unicorns with perfectly styled manes or expensive clothes held an umbrella above them with magic.

Wing looked at Crescent as they walked, longing for some of the vibrant color she was born with. Crescent's gorgeous red mane and tail complemented her rich yellow body, and her eyes were red too, which was unique among ponies. Wing was a light grey, his mane and tail white, and he was born with blue eyes. Being a bland color helped him fit it with the royal guard. They had to dye their coats if they were too far from a shade of black or white, and Wing didn't have to deal with that. But he always felt a little too plain walking next to her.

The two were in a time of change across all of Equestria. Though Celestia and Luna would still be around for ages to come, Princess Twilight discovered her castle about six decades ago, and now her and her council grew old. Princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire also grew old, and before the turn of the century, Equestria would likely have to say goodbye to two princesses, and welcome new ones selected by Celestia.

Technology had advanced quite a bit over the years as well. Though unicorns were still highly valued, some of the most basic tasks unicorns had managed in the past now completed themselves through technology. A pony in Appleoosa could talk to a pony in Manehattan with the push of a few buttons on a phone. Speeches from royalty to the public and sporting events were now televised. Trains were faster and no longer spat smoke out into the air. Ponies even began to realistically talk about space travel, though that dream was still a long ways away.

After making a few turns, Wing and Crescent arrived at the Sunshine Hotel, where Crescent slept last night, waiting to meet her friend this morning. They passed through the lobby, nodding hello to the clerk at the counter, and entered the elevator, another piece of new technology.

After leaving the elevator, Crescent used her horn to retrieve her room key, then walked to her door and let herself and Wing inside. She pulled out some orange juice from the fridge and poured each of them a glass. Wing sat down at the small table in the room, and Crescent joined her. The rain picked up, making an audible patter against the closed window.

"You must've had an awful few months," Crescent said. "How much did you have to work?"

"12 hour shifts, seven days a week," Wing replied. "Sometimes even more. They want you to get used to having to go to work tired, in case anything ever happens and you have to work a long shift. But everything's normal now. One 12 hour shift each week, the rest are 8, and two days off. Sometimes I'll get three days off in a week, and that'll be great."

"Well, I knew you could power through," Crescent replied, smiling.

"I sure didn't!" Wing leaned back in his chair, stretching out his wings a bit. "That was some tough stuff. After spending today with you, I plan to sleep through all of tomorrow."

Crescent laughed. "Well I'm glad you gave up one more day of sleeping in to come see me. If this rain doesn't let up, I'll buy an umbrella so we can go out on the town later without getting soaked."

"I'll handle it. You know how much extra money I made working all those hours? That was the only good thing about this initiation. I'll buy dinner while I'm at it."

"Really? Well, I'm flattered, and I'll take you up on that offer."

The two continued to chat into the afternoon. They ordered room service for lunch, trying to wait out the rain pouring outside. Wing and Crescent caught up on everything, from work, to family, to funny stories over the past few months. For the first time in a long while, Wing felt relaxed. He felt comfortable. It felt like years since he'd sat down with his friend just to talk. However, his ears lowered a bit when Crescent asked him about making friends on the guard.

"I haven't really made any good friends yet…" Wing was slow to reply. Shyness was an issue since childhood with him. He'd either struggle to approach ponies or ponies tried to avoid him. Now that he was on the guard, nopony was ever rude, but he still couldn't seem to fit in. "I have a couple ponies that I talk to, they're nice… But I haven't been able to hang out with them much."

"Don't let your shyness get the best of you, enjoy yourself in that castle," Crescent told the pegasus, finishing up her meal. "It took a long time for us to become good friends, but look what came out of it! You're never uncomfortable around me. Just get out there and hang out, you'll start having fun."

Wing sighed. "You're right," he said. "They really do like hanging out with me, I guess I'm just paranoid. It's just the couple stallions that I'm friends with have a different schedule than me right now, so it'll be hard even though I have more free time and days off."

"You'll find a way, don't worry." Crescent paused for a moment, then a sly grin appeared on her face, a new question burning inside her. "So… outside of friends… there any stallions you like?"

Wing immediately blushed. "Crescent…"

"What? Come on, the royal guard stallions are some of the most handsome ponies alive. Surely you've got somepony on your mind."

"Not at the moment." Wing was honest when he responded, and he shrugged. "I mean, I have enough trouble making friends. I've only had a couple boyfriends in my life, nothing's ever worked out. I guess I'm just not looking at the moment. I'm waiting for somepony special to come along."

"Oh, come on!" Crescent replied in a joking tone. "The only reason I didn't throw myself at you years ago is because you like stallions. You're a handsome pony. And if the royal guard ponies aren't special enough for you, I don't know what you're waiting for. Unless some perfect, gorgeous stallion suddenly appears in Equestria from another dimension, you're walking around the best of the best. They're all inside Canterlot Castle."

Wing chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

()

_The Crystal Empire_

Night fell across Equestria, and ponies laid their heads to rest in Luna's beautiful night. Things were no different in the Crystal Empire, and the glistening town made no sound; it merely sparkled now and then when the moon hit just the right angle.

In the castle, Shining Armor and princess Cadance held each other in their hooves, drifting off to a deep, peaceful sleep. Outside their doors, and in the rest of the castle, the night shift of the royal guard patrolled, making sure that nothing disturbed the ponies and valuables contained inside.

But while the rest of the Crystal Empire was silent, deep within the castle, in a secret room, stood a tall mirror, with a purple outline and pink gems decorating the edge. This mirror broke the kingdom wide silence as a quiet hum began emitting from it.

Slowly, the surface of the mirror started waving, as if the material was liquid rather than glass. A bright light flashed out from the center, and the humming grew louder. Something pushed through the mirror's surface, forming into the shape of a pony. This thing entered through another dimension, departed from one universe and entering this one. At last, the humming halted, the ripples in the mirror went flat, and a dark blue earth pony, with a mane and tail of an even darker blue, tumbled on to the ground. The stallion groaned, stretching out his hooves and slowly standing.

"That didn't feel good…" The stallion shook his head, then rubbed his forehead with a hoof. He turned towards the mirror and carefully opened his eyes. At first, he saw nothing, but slowly, he adjusted to the darkness, and could see the reflection of himself in the now still mirror. "Alright, I'm a pony. Glad I wanted this as badly as I thought I did. Otherwise two universes would be falling apart right now."

He turned away from the mirror, feeling out the small room. Though he could see the rough layout of the room in the dark, he failed to find a door. "Where the hell am I?"

It took a good while longer for the stallion to at last feel the latch he'd missed. "Ah hah!" He pulled down and swung the door open, finding himself in a large hallway. Though windows lined the tops of the walls, the night sky brought little light beyond what he had in the previous room.

He walked down the hall, taking in the sights. This was a castle, certainly, but not the castle he was familiar with. He didn't know which direction to go, or if he was even in the city he wanted to be in.

When he turned a corner, however, the silence of the night broke once more. A bright light blinded him for a moment, a unicorn guard member shining light from his horn on to the stallion's face. Two more unicorns joined the guard, and all of them raised spears with their magic, bringing them close to the intruder.

"Woah, woah, woah," the stallion said, holding a hoof up and squinting his eyes while they adjusted. "Good evening boys, sorry to bother you. Are those spears or are you all happy to see me?"

"Who are you?" The closest unicorn barked. "Why are you here?"

"Hey, you guys are all… crystaly… that's a sexy look, is that a magic makeover or-"

"Answer the questions!" the unicorn demanded. All three guard ponies moved their spears a bit closer.

"Alright, easy now, easy now, I'm unarmed, and I'm happy to leave, because I think I'm in the wrong place," the stallion replied. "The name's Captain Jack Harkness. I'm looking for a handsome grey pegasus that I owe a drink to."


	2. Chapter 2

**Torchwood Equestria**

**Chapter 2- Dreams**

Unfortunately, Jack's response provoked no kindness from the guards threatening him, and they quickly pushed him back down the hallway and around a corner. Though Jack wanted to get to Wing sooner rather than later, he had no idea of how to get to Canterlot from his current location. Perhaps getting caught by guards gave him a chance to rest up and ask where to go. _And they're pretty, too, _Jack thought to himself. _Bright side to everything._

The guards led Jack through more and more hallways until he no longer knew where the room with the portal was. The walls of the castle, like the guards, seemed to have a crystal glimmer about them. Talk of a place like this never came up when he last spent time on this planet, and his intrigue grew with each step he took.

Eventually, after directing Jack down several flights of stairs, they arrived exactly where Jack expected to arrive: a long, narrow hallway, with holding cells on both sides, magical iron locks fitted into sliding doors made of iron bars. A pegasus guard walked ahead of Jack, and moved to open the first door on the right.

"Looks like I don't have much company down here," Jack said. Despite the late hour, he assumed anyone sleeping would have awoken at the clatter of hooves. Looking down the hallway, he saw no sign of any other pony.

"That's because nopony else is stupid enough to break into the castle in the middle of the night," one of the tall, female guards responded from behind Jack.

"Go on in, home sweet home," a pegasus guard said, sliding open the door. He stepped out of the way and motioned with a hoof. "You can try explaining yourself again in the morning."

Instead of trying to argue the point any further, Jack complied and entered the cell. Any guard he talked to in the morning would likely be more awake and more inclined to be nice. The pegasus slid the cell door shut, and the bars rattled loudly until shutting with a loud slam that echoed through the lower hallways of the castle. One of the unicorns locked the door with his horn, and with that, Jack was in prison for the night.

He perused the barren room, finding nothing of interest. Nothing but the magically locked bars, three barren, white walls, and a small bed in the corner, a single, thin pillow placed at one end. Not even a window to admire the night sky.

Jack sighed, and decided to just call it a night. He grabbed a corner of the neatly made blanket and sheet, then pulled back, revealing the white mattress cover below. He moved the pillow to a comfortable position, then climbed in to bed and laid down, fumbling with his hooves until he got the blanket over his body. Lying on his side, the blue earth pony stared at the bare wall in front of him, his darker blue mane resting on top of his neck.

A long time had passed since the circumstances that first brought him to this universe, and the events that followed. So much happened in such a short time. He felt lucky for being able to travel with the Doctor again, something he'd miss for however far this endless life took him. However, nightmares haunted at the corners of the cherished memories. Saving all of reality did not come without consequences. Jack wondered if he could ever forget the images of fear, destruction, and death that plagued him whenever he slept.

At least he could rid himself of one bad memory, and replace it with brand new ones. Defeating Chaos reset reality, putting everything back to how things were before the beast started tampering with the universes. Which means that one cute, light grey pegasus, a hero that never deserved to die, would still be here to get the drink Jack promised. None of the royal guard Jack watched fall that night were still dead now, and that thought brought a light smile to his face. He closed his eyes, and after tossing and turning a bit, fell asleep.

()

Jack awoke at the loud rattling of his cell door. He rubbed his eyes and rolled out of bed, standing up and seeing a female unicorn guard at the door. Her magic slowly lowered a black tray to the floor inside the cell, then she closed the door again.

"Breakfast," the unicorn said, recasting the lock spell. "Enjoy, Mr…?"

"Harkness, ma'am," Jack replied with a grin. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Captain?" The guard looked surprised. "In that case I shouldn't have the authority to put you in here," she continued with a chuckle. "That is, if you're telling the truth."

"Oh, I am, just like I was telling the truth last night." Jack grinned and walked closer to the bars. "But what rank are you then?"

"1st Lieutenant."

"Just a 1st? Something tells me you should be higher rank than that, you don't have the look of a 1st Lieutenant."

"You know… I think I should, you're right," she replied. A light blush appeared through her white coat. "I haven't been promoted in quite a while."

"I bet they're just worried you'll be too good, make everypony worried about keeping their jobs."

She laughed, and her blush deepened a bit. One of her front hooves drew small circles on the ground as she prepared to say something she never thought she'd say. "Well, if you're not a lying piece of crap and still inside this cell later, what do you say we grab a drink after you explain yourself and get out of here?" The guard winked.

"Sorry, any other time I'd be all kinds of up for that," Jack began. "But at the moment I already have somepony waiting on me for a drink."

The unicorn frowned, then just shrugged. "Well, it was worth a shot. You'll get to explain yourself in an hour or two." She turned from the bars and started heading up the stairs. "See you later, Captain. I'll be pissed if I find out you're a complete liar later."

"I won't disappoint," Jack called out, and after that could no longer see her.

Jack chuckled as he looked down at his meal. Even when locked up for potentially trying to steal something inside a castle, he managed to flirt his way through a conversation, and work his usual magic. The breakfast was simple; oats, an apple and some water, but none of it tasted horrible. Jack never ate such decent food in any of his previous mishaps that landed him in a prison cell.

Very hungry, Jack finished all the food on the tray. Another hour or so passed, and the blue stallion alternated between pacing from wall to wall and sitting on the bed, thinking over a plan to meet up with Wing at the proper time. Eventually, hoof steps echoed from outside his cell once more, and he stood up to greet whoever approached.

A tall, pink pony emerged into the hallway, and came to the cell door. Jack looked in surprise at the wings and horn on the mare, for stories of princesses besides the two royal sisters never reached his ears on his previous travels in Equestria. The mare showed signs of age in her face, and her tri-color mane and tale, shades of pink, purple, and cream, were a bit faded compared to their formal glory. None of this, however, succeeded at taking away from her astounding beauty. Jack looked lastly at the crown, and her cutie mark, a blue, crystal heart. The crystal castle and ponies made a bit more sense now.

"Good morning," the alicorn said, giving a light smile. "I am princess Cadance, and you were apparently snooping around my castle late last night?"

Jack quickly gave a bow to the princess, then rose again. He rubbed the back of his head with a hoof, never keeping eye contact for too long with her. "Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't expecting to end up here. Actually, I had no idea where I was gonna end up when I… well, I assure you princess, I'm not here to mess with your castle. I'm just trying to get to Canterlot."

"The guards found nothing stolen, and nothing damaged, but your story concerns me," Cadance replied, her smile fading a bit. "You're a long way from Equestria. Even if you took the wrong train, you should've known once you got here."

"Look, this is going to sound crazy, but is there any way for you to contact princess Celestia?" Jack asked. "She knows me."

Cadance laughed, then shot a smirk at Jack. "Really?"

"I know, it sounds stupid, but you're a princess, right? Surely you have some way to contact her."

"I could call her, yes."

Jack didn't know ponies advanced to an age of phones, but revealing that would cause even more suspicion. He hid his surprise. "That would be great. If you're willing to give my story a chance, call her and tell her Jack Harkness is sitting in your castle."

Cadance froze at Jack's words, and she replied hastily. "Did you say Jack Harkness?"

"Yes. Captain Jack Harkness, actually."

"But I thought none of you could come back from the mirror. You're… you're from… before?"

Jack smacked his forehead with a hoof. "Wow, if I'd known you were in on the story this conversation could've ended a lot sooner." He sighed. "Don't know why I thought the princess who owns the castle with the mirror in it wouldn't know. Yes, I'm from all the other stuff. Heard of me?"

"Of course!" Cadance replied. "I find the whole story a bit hard to believe… a whole timeline that never actually happened, but Celestia's magic is stronger than mine. Perhaps that's why I can't remember any of it." A question lingered in her mind. "Celestia gave me quite strict rules about the mirror. Does this mean it's safe to pass through?"

"Not at all, actually, I could have torn apart both your universe and mine by coming here. It's complicated, I'd just stick to the rules she gave you."

Cadance shrugged, knowing that most of this likely lay beyond her comprehension. Her horn glowed for a moment, and the cell door slid open. "Well, Captain Harkness, I wish we could speak more, but I'm sure if you took such great risk you must be here for something important."

"Nah, I take risks all the time. This trip is because I owe somepony a drink," Jack replied. He stepped out of the cell, feeling more refreshed already simply by standing on the other side.

"A drink?" Cadance responded in curiosity. She smiled warmly, believing this promise of Jack's likely came from the emotion involved in her job description. "Is this perhaps for somepony you care about?"

Jack pushed away the painful memories that appeared in his mind in response to the question. "Somepony I owe a lot to," Jack replied. "Somepony that saved my life, even though it wasn't necessary."

Cadance smiled down at the stallion. "I won't get in your way any longer then."

The two ponies walked through the Crystal Castle as Cadance took a turn in receiving questions. Jack asked about the crystal ponies, the origins of this place, and more information on the current time. Jack never got to see anything outside Canterlot Castle when he previously appeared in this time, so he found the advancement of pony technology interesting.

They passed through several large halls on their way out of the castle, which Jack already saw the night before, and after several minutes they stepped through an archway into the main entrance room of the castle. Jack looked up at the impressively high ceiling. The crystal of the castle glistened from the warm sunlight shining from above. Several guards stood by each passageway to other parts of the structure, and Jack returned the wink he received from the 1st Lieutenant he met that morning, who smiled coyly upon seeing the former prisoner being personally escorted out of the castle by Princess Cadance.

"I'll send a message ahead of you to the train station; they will provide you with some of our currency and a free ride to Canterlot," Cadance said. "If you still have business here after that money runs out, I'm afraid you'll have to find your own way."

"Thanks for all the help, princess," Jack replied. "You've got a real nice place here. I'm glad I'll get to see it again whenever I go home."

"I look forward to another talk with you." With that, Cadance turned to reenter her castle, and Jack started his walk to the train station.

The crystal ponies never ceased to amaze Jack each time he walked past one. There were quite a few amazing things about this universe, that even in his long life he hadn't seen until now. He stopped now and then to have a friendly conversation, and followed the path he was told.

About half an hour passed, and Jack arrived at the station. Noise filled Jack's ears when a large train blew its whistle right before the metal wheels began to squeak and turn, urging the tons of metal and dozens of ponies inside forward. Jack only saw one track for trains to come in, which turned at the end to allow outbound movement. The Crystal Empire saw little traffic, and only needed a few trains to spread out across their one track.

As promised, Jack received money and a train ticket when he spoke to an employee. The next train came in an hour, so Jack leisurely walked over to a nearby shop to grab a bite to eat.

()

The wheels of Jack's train began screeching, and Jack looked out the window to see a familiar sight. Canterlot Castle towered above all else in the distance. Below it, a massive city, highly influenced by the royal presence, held dozens of shops, restaurants, and bars, along with high class hotels and expensive houses and apartments. This looked like a city Jack could easily have fun in, and his heart built up with excitement while he stood from his seat and stretched his legs out.

Jack began by simply walking around. He spent an hour or so familiarizing himself with the layout of the town. He stopped by a good looking hotel and reserved a room, wondering if he'd be able to find Wing today. It was Friday, and Jack assumed from Wing's original acceptance of his offer that he'd at least gone to a bar once. Touring the bars was his best shot without going directly to the castle.

He waited a while longer, letting the sun begin to set before testing his luck. He started with the bar he found closest to the castle. Quite a few ponies sat at tables and at the main counter, talking, laughing, and sharing drinks. Yet no grey pegasus sat in the bar, and with a light sigh, Jack left to try the next one.

Jack knew he could just ask Princess Celestia to arrange a meeting, but that wouldn't create the starting atmosphere Jack wanted. His allowance from Cadance contained enough money for a few nights at his hotel, so perhaps all he could do was trial and error.

With a stroke of luck, Jack came across two muscular, white stallions with short haircuts. This close to the castle meant he likely saw two royal guards in front of him, and perhaps they knew something.

"Evening, guys," Jack said. The two stallions turned from their own discussion and kindly greeted Jack. "You two in the guard?"

"You know it, best royal guard in Equestria," one of the stallions boasted.

"I'm looking for somepony on the guard, an ensign, grey pegasus," Jack explained. "Any chance you know somepony like that?"

The pony who hadn't spoken yet rubbed his chin. "Sorry, not ringing any bells," he replied. "He's probably in a different squad."

Jack frowned, his hopes of finding Wing before tonight's end dropping. "Well, thank you anyway," he said.

"But hey," the guard put a hoof up to Jack's chest, stopping his movement. "You been to the bar a few blocks east of here? The waitresses aren't as good looking, but they give a discount to guards. Most guards go to that place when they're looking for a drink."

Jack smiled. "Thanks! I'll give it a shot."

Jack's pace quickened, his excitement building. He weaved in and out of crowds, the night crowd of ponies going out to eat or to the theater replacing the day crowd of shoppers and business ponies. Sure enough, Jack found the bar the stallions mentioned, and by some sort of fate or sheer luck, a familiar grey pegasus sat at the counter, sipping on a drink, alone.

Stopping, Jack took a deep breath. He normally never felt nervous moving in to flirt, but this time was different. For in Jack's past, a reality that no longer existed, this stallion sacrificed his life to save him, when Jack wouldn't have died in the first place. Jack knew Wing wouldn't remember any of this, but the feeling of a great debt still built up inside him as he gazed at the handsome, young pegasus, alive and healthy. He would give Wing the time of his life.

Jack sat down in the stool next to Wing, glancing at him a couple more times. After a few moments, he spoke up.

"Ensign Wing," he began. "How are you?"

Wing's eyes widened. He looked over at Jack. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

"We've met before, but you wouldn't remember," Jack replied. "My name's captain Jack Harkness. Nice to see you."

Jack held back a chuckle as a familiar blush, one Paige and countless others before got just from Jack saying hello, appeared on Wing's face. A rare talent that Jack cherished. "Um, hi," Wing said. He scratched his head a bit before looking at Jack again. "Is there anything else I don't remember?"

"I offered to buy you a drink once." Jack put some bits up on the counter. "Never got a chance to do it. But I guess you could say I… wanted to badly enough that I found you again. So what do you say? Wanna let me buy you a drink, maybe you can keep finding out more mysteries about me?"

Jack waited patiently while Wing took everything in. He kept on a smile, shooting Wing a warm look.

Eventually, Wing shrugged. "Why not," Wing decided. "I'll accept that drink."

"Perfect," Jack replied. "Let's talk about how good you are with spears."

()

_Two drinks and a conversation later_

Jack lay awake in the bed of his hotel room with a content smile on his face. Wing slept soundly next to him, and Jack just looked at him, happy to have at least somewhat made up for the past.

However, Jack no longer just felt like he repaid a debt. After talking to Wing in the bar and getting him to open up a bit, he discovered the pegasus was quite an interesting pony to be around. They shared interests in hobbies, drink preferences, and though Jack never performed these acts as a pony, he could relate to a lot of the stories Wing told about his training for the royal guard. He got a deep blush from the pegasus after giving his answer for why he didn't have a cutie mark. Jack genuinely enjoyed the night, and figured a little bit longer stay wouldn't hurt him.

A flash of light from the window disturbed Jack's peaceful thoughts. He rolled over in confusion, for a cloud hadn't plagued the sky all day, and he still saw a completely clear night sky through the window.

Jack slowly slid out of bed in hopes of not waking Wing, and gently set his hooves down on the floor. He treaded lightly over to the window, and pulled the curtain aside, sliding it only an inch or so at a time, keeping noise down.

The flash definitely originated from something besides lightning. Still no clouds in the sky. Jack pondered if ponies developed cameras yet, until something interesting caught his eye.

A red unicorn came running from around the corner of the hotel, then dashed down the street in front of it. He could tell by the curves of the pony's body that it was a mare. Behind her, another pony, this one covered by a cloak and hood, gave chase.

Jack wanted to help, but before he moved from the window, the red unicorn raised a small object up with her horn. He squinted to see it until a laser beam shot out of it in the direction of her chaser.

"That's interesting, considering ponies are just now getting to phones," Jack said to himself.

()

_You see, by the end of all things, I did not mean that Chaos won. It was the end of the Doctor's time in the pony universe, the end of all those that had met him, except for Paige and the princesses, knowing him. And an end does not need to be sad. In fact, endings can be happy. For without something ending, nothing can begin. Martha had to end her travels with the Doctor to go experience her own life. After the universes reset, River went on to explore the library, and her journey with the Doctor ended. But, in doing so, the Doctor's journey with River began. _

The stallion skipped the last couple paragraphs, and moved to the end.

_Signed,_

_ Donna Noble_

He put the last paper down. "Quite an interesting story she had to tell," he said to himself. His voice was deep and throaty, almost always sounding like he was slightly ill. He gathered all the papers that this woman wrote, and placed them somewhere where he could find them again easily.

"Interesting indeed…" The device on his arm began beeping, and he knew it was time to exit this dream.


	3. Chapter 3

**Torchwood: Equestria**

**Chapter 3**

**Two Captains**

_Galaxy O, Sector 5_

_46__th__ Ceentury_

Nothing calmed Ruby more than the pure quiet of space. She still loved planting her hooves on solid ground time and again, but jumped at every opportunity to get in a spaceship and fly. It was because of this that she joined the Equestrian Space Academy, became an officer, and now served as a captain on board her small, but beautiful ship.

The Wanderer cruised through the blackness at a leisurely pace. In a couple hours, engines would be recharged and ready for the jump to their next planet stop. Ruby, as she always did, awoke a couple hours before the rest of the crew to come sit on the bridge with a cup of coffee. Just sitting alone, drinking coffee, and staring out at distant stars in the early morning always made her day better.

Communication clicked on and surprised Ruby for a moment. "Rufus here," her chief engineer said. "I don't mean to disturb your morning routine, just want to let you know I'm up and in the engine room. Things look good, all should be up and running on time."

"No problem on the interruption, good to hear your voice." Ruby held down the com button with her magic to reply. "If the engine looks alright then just take it easy for now. Go get some breakfast, I'm sure Luke is cooking something up as we speak."

"Luke here, sure am! Plenty for you too, Captain." A third voice joined the com.

"Copy that Luke, I'll be down in a little while," Ruby said.

The red unicorn continued to sip on her coffee for a few more minutes and enjoy the view. Her magic pulled some of her black mane in front of her face as she searched for any grey hairs. Making captain didn't come without a lot of experience, and Ruby knew the day would come that her mane wouldn't keep its jet black luster.

That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't keep her main and tail looking perfect for as long as possible. She sifted through the hairs she draped over her eyes, and flinched whenever she used her magic to pluck a discovered grey one. She stood up from her chair, then turned to look behind her, gazing past her cutie mark of a star, the star in her home solar system, and repeated the process with her tail. Finally, the mare took all the plucked strands and sent them down a disposal hatch, then brought up the brush she kept on the bridge, using the faint reflection of herself in the window to put everything back in order. She smiled at her reflection, then turned to join her crew.

()

Daniel smiled and stood up quickly when Ruby entered the kitchen and dining area. "Captain on deck!" He said with a giggle.

"Oh, cut that out," Ruby replied, glaring at Daniel before laughing with him. "There's a whopping five of us on this ship, the only time you all stand for me is if we're on a ship with other ponies." She sat down at the dining table, the smell of fresh fruit and something fried filling her nostrils. "However, giving your captain some food is an acceptable way to show respect."

"Coming right up," Luke called out from the kitchen, bringing out a plate.

Nicole, the other female crew member of the five on board, turned to Ruby. "Captain, I got down here first, I'm all done with breakfast," she said. "Want me to head up to the bridge and prepare us for the jump?"

"Sounds good, thank you," Ruby replied. "Rufus, mind taking the rest of your biscuit to engineering, then? Maybe we can get this jump out of the way and arrive ahead of schedule."

"Shmmmf." Rufus tried responding with his mouth full, then paused for a moment and swallowed. "Sure thing, ma'am." He grabbed his biscuit with his teeth and followed Nicole out of the room.

"Well, now just me and my favorite two stallions." Ruby grinned and started eating the food Luke gave her.

Luke finally sat down now that everypony had food. "Just us and our favorite captain," he joked back.

The three conversed for a while, until Nicole announced that the ship was ready to jump. Daniel left to go check on supplies in the medical bay, Luke proceeded downward in the ship to assist Rufus, and Ruby made her way for the bridge.

Ruby walked at a leisurely pace through the narrow corridors of her ship, everything going ahead of schedule. Her hoof steps echoed softly, and she hummed a tune to herself as she thought over everything she needed to take care of at their destination. She needed to attend a couple meetings with other captains in the area and one admiral who would be visiting, order supplies for whoever on her ship needed them, and during her free time, try and find some unique food on the planet, a tradition she started the moment she arrived at her first planet away from home.

Nicole still busily worked controls and buttons as Ruby stepped on to the bridge. "Everything's ready, Captain," she told her.

Ruby turned on communication ship wide. "Alright, everypony, hold on tight, we are jumping in ten seconds."

Modern space travel meant short distances were taken care of in a matter of seconds with hyperspace jumps. Different methods were still used for long distance journeys, but a high energy jump followed by an engine recharge proved to be the most efficient way to get to things nearby. The jump took mere seconds, and while one got thrown forward a bit when exiting the jump, no discomfort ever ailed a passenger on a jumping ship. Nicole entered the proper coordinates, and engaged the jump.

Light began brightening outside the cockpit window. Nicole and Ruby shielded their eyes as the sound of the engines building up power grew louder. Several seconds later, the sound suddenly quieted, and Ruby felt her body lurch forward for a moment.

Nicole lowered her hoof and returned to controls. "Jump complete, beginning standard orbit around… hold on…" Nicole double checked her readings, to be sure she wasn't mistaken. "We're at the wrong planet."

"What?" Ruby looked down at the screens, then out the window. Something was wrong. She'd never seen this planet before, but felt strange when she looked at it. Anxiety filled her, and she couldn't think of why. Something she couldn't explain or describe felt familiar, and this unknown familiarity scared her.

She shook her head after staring at the planet for several seconds, turning her attention back to the issue. "Are you sure you entered the proper coordinates?"

"I double checked before launching," Nicole replied. "There's no way they were wrong. I'm running a diagnostic to try and find the problem."

Ruby turned on the com again, speaking to engineering. "Rufus," she began. "Did anything strange happen down in engineering during the jump?"

"No, Captain, everything is fine down here. Something wrong?" the stallion replied.

"We're trying to find out," Ruby said, then closed the com.

"After scanning for errors, apparently the system was hacked to bring us here," Nicole explained. "But there's no way any computer on the planet could've hacked us before the jump, we were way too far out. That means…"

Ruby's eyes widened. "We were hacked by somepony inside the ship."

"Sensor history shows no ships were in range of us before the jump, that's the only other possibility."

"Scan for life signs on board. Now." Ruby rushed to the other side of the cockpit and pulled open a drawer. Using her magic, she lifted a laser pistol out, checking that it was in good condition and switching the device to fire mode.

"There's one more living thing on board than there should be. Sensors picking up a pony in our second cargo bay."

"Watch every sensor you can, don't let this crazy pony hack anything else on our ship." Nicole nodded in response, and Ruby rushed down the hall, her magic holding the pistol in front of her.

()

The red unicorn slowed and quieted her steps the closer she came to the large cargo bay doors. She took a deep breath, then raised a hoof and pushed the button to allow entry. These automatic doors never opened quietly. Whoever hid in this room would know somepony was after them.

Because of this, Ruby kept herself completely alert. Her laser pistol followed her eyes; wherever she looked, it pointed, ready to let loose at any moment.

"Welcome," a voice called out. Ruby turned in a flash, but saw nothing, only crates. The voice belonged to a male, and sounded a bit deeper and throaty than most stallions. The one word he spoke flowed slowly and smoothly off his tongue, like he was pleased.

"What the hell are you doing on my ship?" Ruby called out. Boxes and crates were stacked everywhere in the cargo bay, providing many places to hide. She moved around one step at a time, checking every angle from which this pony could attack her before taking a step forward.

"Why, I had to bring you here," the male pony replied. "To remind you of what you dream about. To remind you of how things should be."

"That only vaguely answers my question," Ruby said, grinding her teeth. "Let's skip playing the pronoun game, shall we?"

"When you looked at the planet out there, did you feel something strange?" the mysterious pony asked. Ruby remained silent, but grew nervous, remembering the feeling she got when the jump brought them to the wrong location. "I'm sure you've dreamt about it, you just don't remember. Because everything is wrong. The planet outside is supposed to be frozen."

Ruby blinked a few times, then shut her eyes, shaking her head. Images flashed in her head for a split second, then left again. This planet. Something strange about it. A member of her crew dead. Her ship exploding. Somepony… who was that brown stallion? She felt as if something was throwing photos in front of her face, and before she could get a good look at the photo, it landed in a fire, never to be seen again. These flashes, these strange feelings. Some part of them was familiar.

"You're probably feeling very confused right about now," the male said. "But don't worry, captain. When everything is put back to the way it should be, you'll remember."

Ruby kept her steps quiet but hurried her pace, weaving through the cargo bay in search of this pony. At last, she came around a corner, and discovered a pony sitting on the ground, messing with something on his hoof. The stallion was cloaked, and with his back turned to her, she failed to make out any of his features. However, she knew the device on his hoof had something to do with teleportation. He was about to escape.

"This was just a little preview," the stallion called out, not knowing Ruby stood directly behind him now, just fifty feet or so away. "I couldn't resist, but it's time to get out of here and get some of the real work done."

"No you don't!"

Ruby pushed off with her hind legs, bolting down the cargo bay while the stallion set in coordinates. She leaped out to tackle him, but did so just barely too late. The stallion teleported, and due to how close she was, so did Ruby.

()

_Earth_

_Canterlot_

_Late 21__st__ Century_

Both Ruby and the stallion collapsed to the ground after teleporting. Both their bodies met the harsh embrace of pavement, and neither moved for a few moments. Ruby groaned and rolled over, searching for her laser pistol and levitating it when she saw the device a few feet away from her.

It was then that Ruby discovered she teleported to somewhere else. A planet's atmosphere and night sky replaced the metal walls of her space ship. She brought herself to her hooves, taking in her surroundings, no clues as to where they were presenting themselves. A short distance away she spotted a large cluster of buildings, though their structure appeared rather old. She moved her eyes upward, and failed to recognize the configuration of the stars. She was somewhere new.

Ruby's searching suddenly paused when she felt searing pain on the side of her face. She cried out and collapsed to the ground, grinding her teeth as she felt her coat burn. She shot her head to the right and saw the stallion who'd been on her ship, his horn glowing. Clearly the stallion held magic far beyond her capability to be able to fire a painful blast like that. She knew that taking down this stallion alone would be impossible.

"I got where I wanted to be," the stallion spoke from under his hood, his tone growing angry. "But I didn't plan on you coming with me. You will die by my horn."

Ruby whipped her gun around and fired off a shot in less than a second, but the laser blast deflected off a just as quickly raised magical shield. Ruby took the opportunity of the distraction, and ran for the city, needing a place to escape and hide.

The stallion gave chase soon after, and Ruby saw a sparkling, orange bolt of magic whizz past her head. She turned the pistol around and blindly fired two shots, hearing one of them reflect off of something, likely a magical shield again.

She reached the edge of the city and darted around a corner. The chasing stallion changed his type of magical blast, this time releasing a bright flash of white light that extended quite a ways out. Ruby found herself blinded for a few moments, and tripped over a stray can. She worked to stand up and keep running before her sight even returned to her, and darted around another corner, running past some sort of hotel. When she heard the stallion make the same turn, she turned her pistol back and fired two more shots.

()

Jack needed to know who this mare was and where she got a laser pistol like that. Lives could be at stake if that technology was stolen from the future or if alien tech could be found on the planet. He quickly turned back to the bed and shook it a bit to wake up Wing.

Wing slept a few moments longer before the shaking woke him. He came to slowly, and rubbed his eyes, a smile appearing on his face. "Morning already?" he mumbled. "That was an amazing night…"

"No, it's still night Wing, but wake up," Jack said.

Wing came to a little more and noticed the urgency in Jack's voice. He quickly sat up in bed, replacing his smile with a look of concern. "Jack, what's going on?" he asked.

"I just saw some mare outside getting chased by somepony, she's in big trouble," Jack said. "I don't know how to explain why, but I need to try and help her. You don't have to come with me, but I didn't want you to think I was skipping out on you."

"You… you didn't want me to think that?" Wing replied, a bit off excitement returning to his voice. "So… you'd like to go out again?"

Jack nodded, and returned the grin. "Yeah, if you're up for it, tonight was fun." Despite his confidence that always stayed true when he got together with someone, a light blush escaped his cheeks.

"Well, that's great! I'd love to!"

"Perfect. Let me know your schedule and I'll… wait, post first date talk later, that mare's in trouble."

"Oh. Right." Wing shook his head. "Well hey, I'm new to the royal guard, but my job is to protect the castle and Canterlot's citizens," he continued. "And I guess since you're a captain somewhere you feel the same responsibility."

"Exactly," Jack said. He'd explain the truth later, when there was more time.

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be though, I only finished training a little while ago…"

"Don't worry, you're great," Jack replied, remembering Wing from the time that was. "Just follow my lead."

()

The two stallions rushed out of the hotel and out onto the streets, running in the direction that Jack last saw the mare and her chaser. It was around 3:30 in the morning, so even the late night partiers were done, and the only Jack and Wing's quick hoof steps made any noise in the still night. Jack kept his eyes and ears open, watching and listening for more hooves, spells, or laser blasts.

"What did these ponies look like?" Wing asked, flying alongside Jack while the dark blue stallion ran.

"The mare is a red unicorn, and the one chasing her had a cloak, I couldn't see who it was," Jack replied. A light or two turned on in high up windows as light sleepers awoke to the echoing hoof steps of Jack's sprint. He kept his eyes peeled and ears open, until off to the left he heard what sounded like a magical blast, followed by laser fire.

"There!" Jack shouted, switching his direction.

"I heard it too!" Wing took to the sky, getting a view that Jack could not. He moved a short distance ahead of Jack, and his heart began pounding in his chest. Nothing exciting had occurred yet during his duties on the royal guard. It felt like any other job at the moment, just a lot of standing and walking. But now, a citizen of Equestria was in danger, and he found himself alongside another stallion to try and protect her. He couldn't let the mare down, or let Jack down, but he felt unprepared for the task.

Wing caught site of two ponies running, and shouted down to Jack, pointing him in the right direction. He soared through the air, quickly gaining on the two of them, and keeping a close eye, waiting for the right time to swoop in.

()

Ruby promised herself to never skip a workout again. She'd kept her muscles strong, but her cardio lacked a bit from being cooped up on a small ship and making excuses for not going to the treadmill. She gradually ran out of breath, second by second, and needed to escape this unicorn fast.

Running out of street corners to turn to, she only saw one other option. A little ways down, on the side of a taller building, a fire escape lined the brick wall. She bolted for it, reaching the stairs and starting her climb, hoping the roof of the building would bring a new solution.

The cloaked stallion chased after her, clearly determined to rid of this witness to his actions. Ruby was at least able to relax slightly on the climb up, for the stairs provided no clear shot for the male unicorn to shoot more magic at her.

Gasping for air, Ruby reached the top, however, before she could look around, she heard no more hooves banging on the metal stairway. Quickly turning, behind her stood the unicorn, and Ruby knew if she made a move, it would likely be her end.

The cloaked pony slowly walked forward, and Ruby slowly walked back. She kept her laser pistol raised, desperately hoping she could catch the stallion distracted. She knew no spells to protect herself from the level of magic he produced, and after a few moments more, stopped moving when she felt the edge of the building against the bottom of her hoof.

The two stared at each other for several moments, both of them unaware that hoof steps were being taken slowly and quietly up the fire escape by a third pony. The stallion kept his head low, ensuring that Ruby could gain no information on his appearance.

"Seems you're out of places to run," the stallion said triumphantly, a grin hid beneath his hood. His horn began to glow, until a grey pegasus swooped down from the sky, pummeling into his side and knocking him to the ground.

Both the unicorn and the pegasus skidded across the roof. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise and amazement. To her further surprise, another stallion, this one an earth pony, appeared at the top of the stairs, looking at her and nodding.

The cloaked stallion yelled in anger, and seeing the number of ponies now around him, began entering data into the device on his front hoof. The pegasus was still dazed, laying right next to him, but Ruby and the earth pony knew exactly what was happening, and bolted for the unicorn.

Both dove, the unicorn hit the final control, and four ponies disappeared from the Canterlot night.

()

Jack opened his eyes to sunlight. He did not feel a hard building roof beneath him, but instead grass. He stood up and looked around, not seeing any of Canterlot. A small town rested a short distance away, and to his surprise, another castle he'd never seen showed itself, this one very purple.

Wing, Jack, and Ruby all got to their senses, and when they all looked at each other, they simultaneously realized no one had eyes on the mysterious stallion. When they turned, they discovered him messing with his device again, but this time, he teleported away without any uninvited guests.

Now the three stood together, Ruby no longer being chased, and the two stallions no longer having a pony to save.

Among the three, Wing was the only one who had no experience of teleportation. He frantically looked around, his eyes widening. "Wah… what just…"

"Wing, calm down," Jack said, putting a hoof on his shoulder. "Breath, slowly, I'll explain later, for now don't worry, we're fine."

"Fine?" Wing replied, taken aback. "We're in a different place! How is this possible?"

"Wing," Jack wrapped his foreleg tighter around Wing and used his remaining front hoof to cover Wing's mouth. "Ponies are starting to stare. I told you, we're fine, this is a bit awkward to explain. Right now, let's focus on the mare."

Wing took several more seconds to calm down, but slowed his breathing, noticing that other ponies were indeed staring at the group. Luckily, none had noticed that these three ponies appeared out of thin air just seconds ago. He relaxed, and Jack let go of him.

Ruby brushed off some dirt on her leg, the hit to her cheek stinging more than ever. "Well, I wish we could've caught the guy, but you two saved me, thanks," she said. "So he doesn't get it, and these buildings look impossibly old. Am I understanding this that the device that pony had took us back in time?" she asked Jack.

"Correct, but I'm not from the future like you, I'm from a parallel universe," Jack replied. To these two comments, Wing began to flip out again, and Jack grabbed a hold of him, blocking his mouth in the same way. "I said I'll explain, I'm sorry, I didn't expect all this to happen," he assured Wing. "Please calm down."

Wing calmed himself, then was set free again. He panted for breath, just staring at Jack. "It's just… my friend was right… you're literally the only thing that could be better than a member of the royal guard…"

Jack ignored that comment after a moment's pause, confused, and turned back to Ruby. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, pleasure to meet you," he said, holding out a hoof.

Ruby shook it. "And I'm Captain Ruby," she replied. "So what are you a captain of?"

Jack stood dumbfounded for a moment. Not even the slightest of blushes from Ruby after he said hello, just an attack. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I'm captain of an Equestrian Union space vessel," Ruby continued. "Do they have those in your universe?"

"We have space ships, but I'm just a military captain," Jack said.

Ruby shrugged. "Hmm, well, not bad," she said, smirking.

"Hey, I saved you," Jack shot back.

"Actually, your pegasus friend did."

"Oh, come on."

"Can we get to the part where things get explained to me?" Wing chimed in, causing the smirking mare and the fuming stallion to both look in his direction. "So are we in the past, or in some alternate dimension? And what's with the giant spider like thing over there?"

At first Jack planned to answer the question about their location, when the second question caught Ruby's and his attention. They turned to see a huge, eight legged creature crawling along the top of one of the buildings in town. Farther down, a giant fly landed on another roof top, nearly as big as the spider.

"I actually don't know what that is," Jack said.

"Me neither," Ruby added. "We should probably get rid of it before it harms anypony."

Wing shook his head, fear, anxiety, curiosity, and adrenaline all pumping through him, and only getting a couple hours of sleep before running through Canterlot's streets and teleporting didn't help either. "Alright, fine, I've helped save somepony once already in the past few minutes, explanation later then. But since both of you are captains, who's in charge of the plan?"

"I am," Jack and Ruby said at the same time, before turning and looking at each other.


	4. Chapter 4

**Torchwood: Equestria**

**Chapter 4**

**An Old Friend**

_Ponyville_

_21__st__ Century_

A bright yellow mare with a pink mane and tail quickly flew towards the center of town, where overgrown creatures stood on rooftops, towering above the running and screaming ponies below. She'd never seen a spider this big before, and had no idea how it suddenly appeared in the middle of town with no real warning. Most exotic creatures originated in the everfree forest, but the mare's animal friends always knew to warn her if something dangerous ventured out of the thick woods. She considered magic as a possibility, but she knew only one pony in town who could possibly perform a spell like this, and she wouldn't do such a thing.

Regardless of the fear coursing through her at the sight of the creature, her love of animals made her more intrigued than afraid. It was like looking at a spider with a magnifying glass, every aspect of this reddish-brown spider enhanced by its size. She pondered for a moment what this creature's web might look like, quite possibly covering a space wider than her cottage.

The yellow pegasus gulped and controlled her nerves as she approached the enormous arachnid from behind, hovering in the air. "Um, Mr. giant spider," she began, her voice quiet. "I think you look amazing, and I'd love to learn more about you, but, everypony else is a little scared, so could you come with-" the mare screamed as one of the spider's large legs rose up and pummeled in to her. Her body reeled back, and her shock caused her to lose control of her wings. She fell through the air, quickly nearing the ground.

Before thudding against the grass, however, she felt hooves swoop underneath her back. Afterwards, her savior bolted upwards and away from the spider's location. The mare felt a bit dizzy from the sudden change in speed and direction, but the pony who held on to her kept a strong grip.

She opened her eyes to see a grey stallion with a gorgeous white mane, as pure of a white as one of her best friend's coat. The stallion slowed down and landed on the ground a fair distance away from the spider, setting down the rescued pegasus underneath the shade of a small tree. The mare quickly rolled over on to her hooves and stood, giving the stallion a hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" she said happily. "I didn't expect the spider to be so rude!"

"No problem," he replied, taken aback by the sudden embrace.

The mare broke the hug and blushed, embarrassed by her sudden outburst. "Um, I'm Fluttershy," she said. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Do you live in Ponyville?"

"I'm Wing, and no, I'm from…" Wing paused his speech. Ponyville. He'd never traveled there, but nearly everypony knew of the town home to one of Equestria's princesses. Caught up in an adrenaline rush and a desire to act fast and help, Wing forgot that moments ago he was struggling to accept the fact he'd teleported, back in time, into a new dimension, he didn't know what. At least now he knew where, and he pushed his confusion aside once more. "Canterlot," he finished.

Fluttershy smiled lightly, her cheeks turning a bit red. "Well, thank you so much. You just popped in out of nowhere."

"You have no idea how true that is."

She was about to say something else, when her eyes widened in realization. "The creatures! Twilight's not here and I'm the best with animals, I have to go help!"

She moved to run past Wing, but he halted her by pressing his hooves against her chest. "Don't worry, I've got some friends with me, and they seem to know what they're doing. They'll handle these giant creatures."

"You have more with you? Like, a rescue group?" Fluttershy responded, relaxing again. "What do you call yourselves?"

"Well, I sort of just met them, I don't think we have a name," Wing said. "Maybe if the other two can decide who's in charge they'll come up with a name for… whatever we are."

()

Jack and Ruby ran into town, staying close to edges of buildings and peeking up to look at the spider. "Could unicorn magic have done this?" Jack asked.

"Yes, but doubtful," Ruby replied. She cringed and ducked as the spider above jumped from one rooftop to another, landing with a loud _thud_ and skidding a few feet while it regained grip. Ponies either ran completely out of the town or stared wide eyed from their windowsills. The giant fly a few blocks over began buzzing about, the size of it causing an overly loud buzz that rang in Jack and Ruby's ears. "To enlarge little bugs to a size this big would require some seriously powerful magic, it's more likely that technology did this."

"Given the circumstances of how we showed up, I'd say that's a good guess," Jack said. "Any ideas?"

"If it's just an enlarged spider, a laser blast would end its life instantly. I can get a good angle right now."

"No!" Jack held a hoof out to the rising laser pistol. "We don't know how far back in time we've gone. The time we were in before was already pretty far back from yours, I'd bet. You can't just fire a futuristic weapon out in the open. If somepony sees it..."

"Fair point," Ruby said, nodding. "I can get somewhere up high. Carefully obscure the pistol and pretend as if I'm using magic."

"Good thinking, but give me some time," Jack said. "If technology did this, the pony controlling the tech is probably around here observing the outcome. I need to find that pony; if we start killing the creatures too fast, they might make a break for it."

"Roger." Ruby turned to move away, but paused. "Keep thinking critically like that, I could let you be the one in charge." She grinned.

"But a beautiful mare with a laser pistol? Hard not to take orders."

The unicorn chuckled. "Perhaps equal partners then. Now, Captain Harkness, let's get on with it."

Ruby ran towards the giant spider, and Jack ran in the opposite direction. In front of Jack, a tan earth pony mare frantically moved about, two stallions with her. She knocked on doors and motioned for ponies to move, and each pony she spoke to complied. Those that she talked to ran for the edge of town, to join those who'd initially fled from the creatures.

One of the stallions noticed Jack, and notified the mare. She turned, and moved to block Jack's path when she saw he wasn't on his way out of the town.

"You have to leave!" the mare said, her tone urgent. "It's too dangerous to be in town right now."

"Sorry, I'm not from around here, who are you?" Jack asked.

"I'm the mayor of Ponyville," she replied. "And then I'm sorry you had to see our town look like this, but you need to get out. My unicorn assistant has sent out an urgent letter, Equestria's emergency response police will be here soon."

"Great, have them set up a perimeter around the town to keep the ponies that have escaped where they are," Jack said. The mayor was taken aback for a moment, realizing she was being instructed. "Also, have them search for any suspicious looking ponies. The culprit behind this may be carrying some sort of strange looking device, a scientific looking thing."

"And just who are you to tell the police and myself what to do?"

"My friends and I are above the emergency response police, we handle strange situations like this," Jack replied. "Trust me, we know what we're doing."

"Above the emergency… I've never heard of such a thing, what is this team of yours called?"

"I'll get to that later, gotta go!"

Jack pushed past the mayor, leaving her in confusion on whether to chase after the stallion or relay his orders to the police when they arrived. In this time of crisis, all she could think of doing was trust him now and ask questions later.

()

Wing turned to begin searching for Jack only to find the blue stallion running towards him. "Oh, here's one of them now," Wing told Fluttershy. Jack skidded to a halt in front of Wing, and Wing looked away from the immense spider still crawling on the rooftops to focus on Jack.

"Ruby has a way to take out the big bugs that should work," Jack began. He paused upon noticing the yellow mare standing quietly off to the side, her head turned away. "Captain Jack Harkness, nice to meet you." He smiled widely and reached out with a hoof to gently lift Fluttershy's foreleg and shake it in greeting. Fluttershy let out a quiet gasp, and as soon as Jack let go of her leg she raised a hoof to cover the quickly deepening shade of red on her cheeks. "That tends to happen," Jack informed Wing when he turned to see a dumbfounded expression on the grey pegasus' face. "Anyways, you and I need to search for who's behind this. Whoever caused this probably has some strange device with them, and is staying nearby to watch what happens with these giant creatures, or maybe even make more. We find the culprit, then Ruby blasts these things away."

"Oh, you're not going to hurt them, are you" Fluttershy's concern replaced her nervousness and allowed her to speak up. "They're just little bugs."

"That spider smacked you out of the sky!" Wing replied. He refused to believe Fluttershy's desire to keep the creatures safe.

"I know, but, they can't help the fact that somepony made them huge," she replied. "They're just scared."

"Scared enough and big enough to kill ponies!" Wing said.

Jack thought back to his days on Earth in his own universe, when he helped solve problems beyond the capability of the general population. He didn't have access to the same tools he did back then. No devices to clean up the mess after. No pills to make everyone forget what happened. Not even a gun, let alone hands to hold one with. He suddenly felt unprepared, however, he knew Wing, could guess at Ruby's potential, and had just enough confidence in himself to change the plan. "If we can find a way to reverse the process, we won't hurt them, miss," Jack said. Now Wing's shock was on Jack again, but he held up a hoof. "Like I said, we're looking for some sort of device, not magic. If we can find the device, perhaps we can find a way to reverse what happened. No time to argue, come on."

"Oh, thank you!" Fluttershy called out as the other two ran away. Another blush returned to her face, and despite being the only pony around now, she made an effort to hide it.

()

_Las Pegasus_

Twilight smiled as she stepped out into the hot sun. Despite the never-ending heat that came with a visit to the desert, she enjoyed the weather of places such as Las Pegasus and Appleoosa. Her meeting with several other political leaders in Equestria who'd traveled to meet here was now over, and she let out a sigh of relief. Being the princess of friendship didn't mean she held no duties on the side.

She walked down the road, admiring all the flickering lights and humongous advertisements for shows, paralleling the size of all the hotels. Rarity loved Canterlot and Manehattan for being fashion capitals, meanwhile, this city became the home to a grand portion of the entertainment industry. Twilight thought about seeing a show, for trips out here rarely came up, but she decided against it, wanting instead to just get home. She had a long train ride ahead of her, but would be back in a few hours.

She stopped in her tracks when a scroll appeared in front of her face, and she instinctively caught it with her magic. Opening the scroll, she recognized Celestia's handwriting, and found another sheet of paper with different handwriting underneath that.

"_Princess Twilight, my dear student and friend," _the note from Celestia read. "_I received this message and knew that I should forward it to you. Please return to Ponyville at your fastest speed possible. I think somepony broke into the vault."_

Twilight's eyes widened at the words, and she pulled the second paper up to her face to discover a request for the emergency response police. Looking at the nature of the incident, Celestia was likely correct. Somepony broke into the vault.

It would be impossible for her to teleport this far, but she could fly faster than the train. Twilight spread her wings and leaped straight up, zooming off to help her home.

()

_Ponyville_

Ruby cringed as she watched the giant fly land on another building, the sheer weight of the bug causing some structural damage to the shop it landed on. She had climbed up to a rooftop a fair distance away from both creatures, watching their movements and searching around for Jack. Luckily the culprit, whoever he or she was, failed to select a more camouflaged or fast acting method of terrorism. The small town, which held almost a small enough number of ponies to be called a village, appeared completely evacuated, though spectators still stood in shock and awe on the outskirts of the town. Jack was right; Ruby had no idea how far back in time she was, and what the reaction would be to a laser pistol. She needed to hide the device well when the need to use it arose.

The unicorn turned towards a new sound, one she couldn't describe. The spider had begun weaving a web, one string thick enough to stand on already connecting two buildings together. Slowly, the spider spun and weaved more string, and the scale of the web blocked the entire road. _If the spider and the fly end up in a fight, the damage could start getting really serious, _Ruby thought. _We need to find who's behind this. _

Deciding that everypony else seemed safe for now, Ruby kept her ears focused on any change from the creatures so she'd know if they moved, while turning the rest of her attention to what she thought was more crucial.

She looked all around the outskirts of town, finding many bystanders watching the giant bugs in awe and shock. She glanced at every single pony, looking for anything abnormal, only finding staring, dumbstruck faces.

Then, in response to sudden gasps and shouts, Ruby looked to her left to see a second giant fly, making its way towards a building to land on. Now three gruesome creatures invaded the area, and Ruby knew that either she needed to kill these things now and risk losing the culprit, or find him very soon.

She thought for a moment, then noticed that her field of view was limited from the building she stood on. She stood on one of the taller buildings in the town, and the high ground gave her a near complete view of the buildings and the outskirts beyond. She could see everything past the spider, down the road in the other direction, and behind the building, but the building across the street and her distance from it obscured the area past it, where she saw hints of trees, potential cover for a pony trying to hide. She examined the building, and saw no method of climbing to the roof, unlike this building where she'd used a ladder connected to the side. She ground her teeth, wishing she knew a teleportation spell, and backed up. If Jack failed to find the one behind this, she needed to, and fast. At the moment, they were lucky the creatures hadn't attacked anypony.

"This is gonna hurt," Ruby said to herself, taking deep breaths and shaking out her legs. She took another look at the spider and flies to ensure they weren't headed in her direction, then focused back on the distance she needed to cover in this leap. The edge of the roof across from her was raised slightly above the rest of the flat surface, so if she failed to make the jump completely, she had something that her hooves could easily grasp. If she failed to get close, however, only pavement or dirt waited for her below.

Ruby pushed hard with her hind legs, breaking into a full sprint. She gained as much momentum as possible, levitating her pistol at her side, and leapt into the air at the last possible moment.

Time seemed to slow as Ruby looked down at the ground, feeling her body soar through the air. She brought her gaze up and focused on her target, anxiety filling her with each inch in height that she dropped.

With a loud thud, she crashed into the side of the building, only her front hooves clearing the wall. She yelled out of agony from the impact of the hit, feeling a sharp pain in her chest, but pushed through the burning in her body and gained a grip on the raised edge. For a few moments, she simply hung there, recovering and breathing heavily, the pain in her chest flaring up with each inhale. She then ground her teeth and pulled up, getting high enough to swing a hind leg over and pull the rest of her body onto the roof, rolling on to her back. For a few moments, she merely panted, desperately hoping the pain in her chest would calm down, a wish that failed to come true. She rolled back over, the pain flaring up even more during the roll, and forced herself onto her hooves.

Stumbling to the far edge of the building, Ruby looked over, now with a clear view of some open field and trees she couldn't see before. At first she saw nothing, but she looked farther out, towards the outskirts of a forest, and when she squinted her eyes tight, looking out in the distance, she saw something against the bushes that didn't look right. A small box, made of metal. Her eyes couldn't see any more detail, however that gave her all she needed. Though she wanted to go after the culprit now, in her present condition she stood no chance. In case anypony in the outskirts managed to see her while their eyes were glued to the giant bugs partially destroying their town, she hid her laser pistol close to her face, and pointed straight up. The unicorn knew no signaling spells, but her horn glowed from levitating the pistol, so she could pretend. Ruby began firing shots straight up into the air, hopefully drawing Jack's attention before drawing the attention of the pony they hoped to catch.

()

Jack and Wing sprinted back into town, their eyes on the lookout for anything suspicious. So far the town proved to be empty, all the residents keeping what was hopefully a safe distance.

"A third one just showed up, so they can't be far," Jack said. He and Wing bound through the streets, weaving this way and that, checking every hiding place, every alley between buildings, every window. Nothing.

Wing's ears perked up upon hearing a new sound. He turned his head, seeing flashing red beams pulsing up in the air from a rooftop. He slowed himself to a halt and shouted out to Jack. "What's that?"

Jack spun himself round when he no longer saw Wing next to him, and looked towards where Wing pointed. "Ruby has something to tell us, come on!" he replied.

The pair zoomed off again, this time back from where they came, closer to the bugs. Jack ducked in between two buildings, coming around to the other side and backing up until he could see the red unicorn. She had done as he asked; he couldn't actually see the laser pistol firing, which meant if anyone happened to come by, they wouldn't either.

"Ruby!" Jack called out, waving until he received her attention. "What's up?"

"Edge of the forest behind you, looks like some sort of metal box! Probably the device!" Ruby said, ceasing fire. "I hurt myself getting on this building, so I'm stuck. I'll hit the bugs if things get too crazy."

"Gotcha, but hey, don't take out the bugs unless you have to!" Jack told her. "We're going to try and reverse the effect first!"

Ruby was surprised by the new plan, but gave no disagreement. "Let's get this pony!"

Jack made his way across the field towards the forest outside of town, and Wing followed close behind. Ruby watched them for a moment before the corner of her eye caught pegasi flying high up above. They flew in a tight formation, approaching the town fast.

One pegasus, with a black coat and bright blue mane, swooped down to the same rooftop Ruby stood on. He motioned up to the others with a hoof, and they took a new formation, heading for the bugs. "You look hurt, let me get you to safety," the stallion said, noticing Ruby's injured state.

"And who are you?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm a lieutenant in Equestria's emergency response police, you have no need to be afraid," the pegasus replied.

"Oh yeah, well I'm…" Ruby had no idea what time she was in, and struggled to think up something that would give her authority over this stallion. "…a captain," she finished, deciding to just be ambiguous. "And I'm not going anywhere."

"Please, things are too dangerous in the town. Our squad is attacking the giant creatures to try and bring them down."

"You're what?" Ruby spun away from the lieutenant to see the other pegasi moving in to hit the spider, who still worked away on its web. A couple pegasi smacked into the arachnid, knocking it off the half formed web, but the third pegasus met a leg, and was forcefully thrown to the side. Seeing more pegasi coming, the spider turned itself around and began leaving town.

"I can't believe you're that stupid," Ruby said. "Nopony was anywhere near the spider. Now it's heading for all the ponies that evacuated. Good job getting its attention."

Ponies standing on the outskirts of town screamed, running away and trampling over each other. Despite its massive size, the spider's legs made it agile. It skittered out of town, trying to avoid more pegasi attacks, its self-preservation instincts still intact. However, the change in size also changed the appearance of ponies in the spider's eye; they were no longer predators, they were prey.

"Get out of here now, if the flies come around I can handle them, you've done enough," Ruby commanded.

"We are handling the situation just fine, everypony will be safe, this crazy spider will just need more of a beating." the pegasus challenged. "My team is the best of the best, we'll be able to-"

The stallion's words halted when one of his team members swooped underneath the spider to save a mare cowering underneath. Before he flew out to safety, a spider's leg caught him and the mare, and the spider slammed both into the ground. His jaw dropped at the sight, and he just stared at his teammate and the mare, who didn't move to get up.

"Stop standing around and get your ponies out of the way!" Ruby yelled. "I'll handle this."

"Our team can't fight a creature that strong…" the stallion said, shaking his head. "We're not trained for this, we need unicorn backup. What are we going to-"

"You're going to get your team out of the way right now! I'm your unicorn backup!"

The stallion was too shocked to even ask what sort of captain Ruby was. He flew away, signaling for his team to stop, and they touched down over where the mayor and other ponies had fled to escape the charging spider.

Ruby raised her laser pistol, looking to make sure no stragglers from the response team were around to see, and quickly fired off two shots, putting the pistol back down to hide. The shots whizzed through the air at a lightning fast pace, and plunged into the spider's back. Ruby didn't need to try too hard to aim. Flesh burned, and Ruby thought back to her burnt cheek from a few hours ago, but these shots hurt the spider much more severely. Managing to hit some vital body parts, the spider collapsed, never to move again.

Ruby sunk down against the edge of the roof, pain still flaring in her chest with each breath, and she sighed in relief. The flies were yet to pay anypony any mind, so for now the situation was up to Jack.

()

The metal box-like object emitted a loud hum that Jack heard as he ran closer to the edge of the forest. He picked up speed when he saw a pony emerge from the bushes, making some adjustments to dials Jack couldn't see from this side. It was a male pegasus, with a yellow coat and green mane and tail. Jack looked at Wing and nodded his head upwards. Wing understood the message and flew out of sight.

When the pony looked up and saw Jack, he quickly stuffed his hooves into a bush, as if reaching to pull something out. Jack kept charging, then froze when the culprit pulled out a pistol type object that looked very similar to Ruby's.

Wing pummeled into the stallion from above, sending both of them to the ground. A shot fired out from the pistol, which had buttons on the sides to allow use with hooves. The shot hit no target, but the stallion kept his grip on the weapon, despite the tackle.

"Watch out Wing, that thing will kill you!" Jack yelled.

"Drop it! Now!" Wing had the stallion pinned to the ground, and the two struggled against each other's muscle. The stallion dropped the pistol, but only to more aggressively attack Wing. Both flailed with their front hooves, trying to land kicks, most missing, some hitting from each of them.

"Hold him, Wing, I'm going to look for a reverse switch!" Jack hurriedly examined the main side of the device. There was a panel displaying values Jack didn't understand, but his experience gave him insight on the basics of the machine. Energy from the machine constantly supplied the giant creatures; the change was sustained by the machine, not permanent. He quickly turned the dials down, and the incessant hum stopped. Out in the distance, the two giant flies and the dead giant spider started to shrink back to normal sizes.

"No!" the stallion shouted. He landed a powerful kick to the side of Wing's face, knocking the grey pegasus off and to the ground. While Wing was stunned, he rolled over and grabbed the pistol, raising it before Jack had time to react.

Two shots fired, both straight into Jack's chest. He screamed in agony for a split second before collapsing to the ground.

"Jack!" Wing reached out with a hoof, his mind still stunned from the punch, and struggled to get up. Before he succeeded, the other pegasus managed to spin around and sit down between Wing and Jack, front hooves holding the pistol out towards Wing's face. Though Wing was still coming to, he knew to stop moving, but his heart pounded in fear and worry. He'd just met this stallion, but at this moment felt more attached to him than any other pony in the world. A tear trickled down his face; his heart felt like it had been torn out of his chest. How could this happen? So soon after they met? How did any of this even happen? He stared past the laser pistol towards the panting stallion's face, his eyes pleading for mercy.

"See that?" the stallion said, smiling. "I just killed your buddy. I was just having a bit of fun, then you tried to screw everything up. Now you'll pay for it." The stallion chuckled. "Don't worry, we'll all be dying soon anyways."

Wing was about to clench his eyes shut, not wanting to watch the strange weapon as it ended his life, when after a loud whack, the stallion flopped over, picking up dust after crashing into the grass.

Behind the stallion, Jack stood. Eyes open, nose breathing, and no sign of any wound on his chest. "Looks like a buck with the hind legs can knock out a pony." Jack grinned.

Wing just stared. His ripped out heart wanted to reenter his body, but refused to accept that what he saw was real. Too many things beyond his comprehension already occurred today, and now, Jack stood, alive. "How… he killed you…"

Jack's smile disappeared. All the events since the flash outside his window grabbing his attention caught up to him. He just wanted to pay back Wing, give him a night he wouldn't forget, for in another time Wing paid the ultimate sacrifice on Jack's behalf when they both could have lived. Now he suddenly saw the trouble Jack put Wing through today, and his guilt returned. "I… have a lot to explain…" Jack said.

"Stop right there!" a female voice called out, taking Jack and Wing's attention. Landing in front of them was a purple mare, and Jack looked in amazement. The second new alicorn he'd met since he got here. Another princess. However, this one looked familiar. He realized it had to be the same mare he spoke to during the isolated time blend, back in the time before. Where'd she get the wings? "You are under arrest for terrorism, and breaking in to my caslte."

Jack planned to reply until he realized that this alicorn just arrived on the scene, and the picture she saw was two stallions she didn't recognize standing next to alien technology, with a third stallion unconscious on the ground. "Wait, we're not the ones you're after, it's just the knocked out one. We stopped the mayhem he was trying to cause."

"Don't play games with me," the alicorn replied. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in. There are only four ponies in Equestria that are allowed to know where that device came from. You're going to talk. A lot."

Jack sighed. "I'd really rather not tour another princess's prison cells," he said. He saw this purple mare showed no intent of backing down, and sighed. He'd have to wait to try and explain. Jack sat down, then put his front hooves up in the air.

"That won't be necessary Twilight, they're innocent."

The purple mare stopped moving closer to Jack, and looked in surprise at the new arrival. "Celestia? What are you doing here?"

"As soon as I sent you the letter saying somepony might have broken into the vault, I flew here as well. But while I'm at it, I guess I get to see an old friend, too."


End file.
